Coach Le Huynh Duc: 'Binh Duong has nothing to lose in the V-League'

After 15 matches, Binh Duong still cannot win. They currently have eight points, three points behind the two teams above, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City, while the relegation race is only three rounds. Currently, HAGL (20 points) and SLNA (19 points) have definitely relegated, and Khanh Hoa (16 points) also only needs one more point to stay in the V-League.

The race to escape relegation is now the story of Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Binh Duong. In which, the army of coach Le Huynh Duc lost the most. In the remaining three matches, they respectively became guests of SLNA on July 29, received Khanh Hoa on August 2, and were guests of Ho Chi Minh City on August 11. After losing to HAGL 1-2 at home Go Dau yesterday, Mr. Duc admitted: "We now have nothing to lose. The team has no way back. The players have to calm down to find a way forward."

In this match, Binh Duong entered this match well, pressing HAGL for more than 10 minutes. But in the 12th minute, they suddenly conceded a goal from Tran Minh Vuong's long shot. Binh Duong equalized three minutes later, when Tong Anh Ty turned the ball to eliminate Le Van Son and then shot at a tight angle. But in the 31st minute, the home team was pushed into the chase. Their defense revealed a lot of space for Dinh Thanh Binh to escape, receive Chau Ngoc Quang's ball and then stretch it across for Paollo to cushion the ball into an empty net.

"My players tried, but lost because of personal errors," Mr. Duc analyzed. "We conceded a goal early, so the players were impatient to find a way to remove it. We equalized very quickly and thought it was okay, but then we made a mistake and lost again. Maybe, because they lost a lot at this year's tournament, they feel nervous and not confident."

Besides personal errors, finishing is a big limitation that Binh Duong has not been able to overcome. Before HAGL, Binh Duong held the ball 65%, finished 17 shots. They had many good opportunities to score more goals, but the spearheads were all missed. Nguyen Tien Linh had three chances, but once hit the goalie position, once hit the bar with a header, and once hit the bar. Last season's top scorer Rimario was also disappointing when he faced goalkeeper Huynh Tuan Linh twice but did not have a goal.

"We had many opportunities, but the strikers could not solve them. Many situations I see are Rimario's forte, last season was to score but now the shot failed. So does Tien Linh. Maybe they need to calm down to save scoring opportunities," added coach Huynh Duc.